This invention relates generally to projectile devices such as crossbows, and more specifically to a trigger and safety mechanism.
Crossbows are generally known in the art. In general, a bowstring is retained in a cocked orientation by a string catch, and actuation of a trigger releases the bowstring. Desirably, a safety mechanism is provided that will prevent actuation of the trigger when the safety mechanism is engaged.
There remains a need for inventive trigger and safety designs.
A crossbow may also include a dry fire prevention mechanism, which desirably prevents a full release (e.g. dry fire snap) of the bowstring unless an arrow or bolt is positioned to be fired. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,829 teaches a dry fire prevention mechanism having a secondary catch arranged to catch the bowstring shortly after release from the primary catch upon trigger actuation, if an arrow is not in place. U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,200, U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,614, U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,304 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,770,567 teach further examples of crossbow trigger mechanisms.
There remains a need for inventive dry fire prevention devices that provide benefits over prior designs.
All US patents and applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification is provided as well only for the purposes of complying with 37 C.F.R. 1.72. The abstract is not intended to be used for interpreting the scope of the claims.